Gallup: Confidence in Biden, other leaders to fix economy hits historic lows

Fewer than 4 in 10 adults say they trust President Biden, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell or congressional leaders from either party to fix the economy, according to a new Gallup poll.

That's the first time confidence in all of these leaders has dipped below 40% since the polling company started asking the question in an annual survey in 2001, Gallup reported Tuesday.

The poll found that 35% of adults have a "great deal" or a "fair amount" of confidence in Mr. Biden to "recommend the right thing for the economy," down 5 percentage points from 40% last year.

Among the 55% who expressed a lack of trust in the president to do the right thing for their pocketbooks, nearly half — 48% — said they have "almost none."

The poll also found the share of adults expressing confidence in Mr. Powell slipped 7 points, from 43% last year to 36% this year. Faith in congressional Democrats slid from 38% to 34% over the same period, while trust in Republican leaders dipped from 40% to 38%.

"With the U.S. facing a deadline to increase the nation's debt limit and the threat of an economic recession looming, Americans lack confidence in a variety of key U.S. leaders on economic matters," Gallup said.

Only 38% of respondents said they had confidence in Ms. Yellen, a former chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, to make the right financial calls.

While last year's poll did not ask about her, Ms. Yellen enjoyed a 54% economic confidence rating in the 2021 survey, along with a 57% rating for Mr. Biden in the first year of his administration.

The company noted that the low ratings come as inflation "remains high" despite the Fed moderating it somewhat through interest rate hikes. Gallup pointed out that the rate hikes have threatened to plunge the country into a recession and that economic growth slowed to 1.1% in the first quarter gross domestic product report.

The 36% confidence rating for Mr. Powell is the lowest for any Fed chair in Gallup polling since 2002. His high-water mark was 58% in 2020.

The lowest marks in Gallup polling for adults expressing confidence in previous heads of the nation's central banking system were 56% for Alan Greenspan in 2005, 39% for Ben Bernanke in 2012 and 37% for Ms. Yellen in 2014.

The 34% of adults who expressed confidence in congressional Democrats is also their lowest mark, although "not meaningfully different" from the 35% confidence rating they received in a 2014 poll, Gallup noted.

And Mr. Biden's 35% mark is just above the low of 34% that former President George W. Bush received in 2008.

Among respondents to this year's poll, self-identified Democrats were more likely than Republicans or independents to express confidence in these leaders to do the right thing for the economy.

The results come from Gallup's annual Economy and Personal Finance survey, which also found that people are less optimistic about the U.S. economy than they were a few months ago and that Mr. Biden's job approval rating has slid to a new low.

Gallup conducted a randomized national telephone survey of 1,013 adults from April 3-25. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.